DUNDEE BORN IN DURBAN ends in Durban!

Born in Durban, Sean Dundee (NOTE...NOT THE PLACE!!) began his football career in South Africa with local teams Bayview Durban and D'Alberton Callies, Durban, before moving to Germany and Stuttgarter Kickers in 1992. After spending the 1994–95 season with TFS Ditzingan he signed with Bundislega team Karlsruher SC. Developing to become one of the ace goalscorers in the German league, he scored 16 goals in 1995–96 and 17 goals in 1996–97. He scored 61 goals in 162 Bundesliga games.

In July 1998, he joined Premier League club Liverpool for £2 million, as joint managers Gerard Houllier and Roy Evans needed an extra striker to cover for the injured Robbie Fowler, who was unavailable until the winter. However, Dundee failed to break up the partnership of Karl-Heinz Riedle and Michael Owen during the first quarter of the season, and when Fowler returned from injury his chances of first team action were looking even more remote. He only played three games in the league for Liverpool (all of them as a substitute during the final weeks of the campaign as their bid for a UEFA Cup place slipped away) and after the end of the season he returned to Germany in a £1 million move to VfB Stuttgart.

Still struggling to regain his old form, he moved to Austrian team Austrai Wien in 2003. He failed to score in 18 games before returning to KSC in 2004. For the season 2006–07 he signed a two-year contract with Kickers Offenbach. Before finishing the contract he moved back to Stuttgarter Kickers in January 2007.

After leaving his German club he signed for AmaZulu in his native Durban on 17 August 2008.

Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1992–1994	Stuttgarter Kickers	7	(0)
1994–1995	TSF Ditzingen	34	(24)
1995–1998	Karlsruher SC	85	(36)
1998–1999	Liverpool	3	(0)
1999–2003	VfB Stuttgart	77	(25)
2003–2004	Austria Wien	18	(0)
2004–2006	Karlsruher SC	52	(14)
2006–2008	Kickers Offenbach	15	(0)
2007	→ Stuttgarter Kickers (loan)	5	(1)
2008–2009	AmaZulu	4	(0)
Total		300	(100)
International career
2000	Germany B	1	(1)
* Club domestic league appearances and goals

Dundee went as far as switching nationality to Germany, but was however never used by the national team, although he did manage a solitary appearance at "B" level, scoring once against Russia!

On 13 November 2013, he returned to Germany to join amateur club VSV Büchig in the Kreisliga. He played there until the end of the 2015–16 season. Dundee became an analyst/co-commentator for the Bundesliga world feed beginning with the 2017–18 season.

YES! 25 YEARS AGO

 6th October 2001

David Beckham became a national villain when he was sent off against Argentina in the match that saw England eliminated from the 1998 World Cup but all that was finally forgiven on this day in 2001. 

Going into their final qualifier for the 2002 World Cup finals England were level on points with Germany but had a better goal difference thanks to that famous 5-1 victory in Germany. So England needed to at least match Germany's result to automatically qualify - England were at home to Greece and Germany were at home to Finland. Germany's match ended before England's - Germany drawing with Finland. So England needed to at least draw with Greece to automatically qualify but sadly the match didn't go to script and in the 93rd minute Greece were leading 2-1.  But then England got a free kick. From around 30 yards on his home pitch - Old Trafford - David Beckham fired in a perfect free kick which hit the back of the net. A 2-2 draw, Beckham a national hero, England qualified for the finals automatically and Germany finished second and went to the play-offs. Was it a dream?

SQUAD!

• 1 Seaman
• 2 Mills
• 3 A. Cole
• 4 Sinclair
• 5 Ferdinand
• 6 Campbell
• 7 Beckham (c)
• 8 Scholes
• 9 Fowler
• 10 Owen
• 11 Heskey
• 12 Brown
• 13 Martyn
• 14 Bridge
• 15 Keown
• 16 Southgate
• 17 Sheringham
• 18 Hargreaves
• 19 J. Cole
• 20 Vassell
• 21 Butt
• 22 James
• 23 Dyer 
• Coach: Eriksson
  Remember these?

The 2002 FIFA World Cup qualification UEFA Group 9 was England's group comprising Albania, Finland, Germany and Greece.

The group was won by England, who qualified for the 2002 FIFA World Cup. The runners-up, Germany entered the UEFA Qualification Playoffs.!! AND who would later reach the final of the tournament proper!! 

England started the qualification process badly, a home defeat to Germany and an away draw with Finland (soon after a poor team performance at the 2000 European Championships) saw the resignation of their manager Kevin Keegan, and the appointment of Sven-Göran Eriksson – the first non-Englishman to be given the job – in his place. 

With the new manager, they picked themselves up and won five in a row, while the Germans themselves unexpectedly faltered: also drawing with Finland away from home, they also lost their home match with England by a resounding 5–1. Finland, in fact, might have been in with a chance of qualification themselves, but they lost a match to the unfancied Greece, whom England had to play in their final match, while Finland played Germany at the same time, with England and Germany guaranteed the top two places and separated only by goal difference. Greece unexpectedly took the lead twice at Old Trafford, but England captain David Beckham scored an injury-time free kick to level the game. Germany could only manage a 0–0 draw against Finland, meaning England topped the group on goal difference!!
Apologies for crazy table below...you can work them out!

Standings

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	England	8	5	2	1	16	6	+10	17	Qualification to 2002 FIFA World Cup		—	0–1	2–1	2–2	2–0
2	Germany	8	5	2	1	14	10	+4	17	Advance to UEFA play-offs		1–5	—	0–0	2–0	2–1
3	Finland	8	3	3	2	12	7	+5	12			0–0	2–2	—	5–1	2–1
4	Greece	8	2	1	5	7	17	−10	7			0–2	2–4	1–0	—	1–0
5	Albania	8	1	0	7	5	14	−9	3			1–3	0–2	0–2	2–0	—

JOCK STEIN

On this day in 1922, one of the greats in British football came into the World, Jock Stein was born. You will find a number of references to Jock on this Blog. The legendry Scottish manager grew up playing the game at weekends when he was not working  in a local carpet shop and down the pit during the week. He started his managerial career at Dumfermline and went on to make his name at Glasgow Celtic, serving them for 13 years as manager. He picked up 11 Scottish League titles, 10 Scottish Cups, 5 Scottish League Cups and famously the 1967 European Cup...look it up to see where this trophy ranks amongst present awards!

Full name	John Stein
Date of birth	5 October 1922
Place of birth	Hamilton, Lanarkshire, Scotland
Date of death	10 September 1985 (aged 62)
Place of death	Cardiff, Wales
Position	Centre-back

Stein was the first man to lead a British team to European glory and he did this remarkably with a team in which every player was born within 30 miles of the Scottish city of Glasgow!! 

Stein worked as a coal-miner while playing football by part-time for Blantyre Victoria and then Albion Rovers. He became a full-time professional football player with Welsh club Llanelli Town, but returned to Scotland with Celtic in 1951. He enjoyed some success with Celtic, winning the Coronation Cup in 1953 and a Scottish League Cup and Scottish Cup double in 1954. Ankle injuries forced Stein to retire from playing football in 1957.

Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1940–1942	Blantyre Victoria
1942–1950	Albion Rovers	236	(9)
1950–1951	Llanelli Town	44	(5)
1951–1957	Celtic	106	(2)
Total		365	(13)
International career
1954	Scottish League	1	(0)
Managerial career
1960–1964	Dunfermline Athletic
1964–1965	Hibernian
1965	Scotland
1965–1978	Celtic
1978	Leeds United
1978–1985	Scotland
* Club domestic league appearances and goals

YES...OWN GOALS

Sometime ago, I was having a chat on a touchline, with a local ex-footballer, Charles, someone who got out regularly to watch his club and mine, Hepworth United FC, playing home and away. His son was also one of the pillars of the team and both followed Club that Charles helped resurrect in 1969.

The club has a badge that says established 1905, which it was, but with various fluctuations in the interest in football in the local area, the club was eventually reformed but some keen "youngsters" from the Yorkshire village and it is very successful today. There were two men's XIs, a Ladies team, several boys' and girls' teams, around 15 juniors! It is still a thriving club in the Sheffield and Hallamshire Senior and Junior Leagues.

"Veteran", Charles Battye was a regular performer, a serious centre half who took no prisoners. He also scored a few goals....sometimes in the wrong end! I got two stories from him!

Against Brook Motors in the Huddersfield and District League, on a windy day, Charles took a swipe at the ball to clear it and got a top edge. The ball spiraled upwards like a flying saucer and shot towards his goalkeeper, Tony Smith, known as Tonto, who at this time would have felt like his cowboy partner, the Lone Ranger (no masks!!). Isolated in his goal area, the ball flew over his head and despite a despairing dive, nestled in the top corner. The only goal of the day.
Another story included a game at home, on the old Far Lane pitch, against local rivals, Honley FC. Charles nailed 4 goals, one in their net and 3 in his own, mainly from passing back to his goalkeeper, who seemed incapable of pocketing the ball (in those days you could pick up a back pass). Final score 8-5...good game!! Sadly, Charles is no longer with us, but the club's memory of him and his influence is still strong with many reminders of his influence in the club house!
Here is a blog about "own goals" from a while back. Hope it works!
https://baileyfootballblog.blogspot.com/2018/12/own-goals-and-gongs.html

18th December 1954, Chelsea's second goal in the 3-1 win over Leicester  was a shared own goal. Two Foxes, lunged at the ball, Stan Milburn and Jackie Froggat contacted the ball equally and the ball flew into their net, "half an own goal each" was the credit on the score sheet.
14th May 1955 an England Schoolboys v Scotland Schoolboys international at Goodison Park, ended 2-2. Both of the Scot's own goals were scored by England centre-forward, Joe Baker. The England goals were scored by Scottish centre forward Alex Dawson They both went on to make a career out of the game.
In Madagascar (now Malagasy) in October 2002, the players of club side Olympique De L'Emryne, were so fed up with the referee's performance that they repeatedly put the ball into their own net, 149 times, AS Adema couldn't believe their luck! The score at the start of all this was 0-0!
Between 1956-7, 1961-2, Danny Malloy played for Cardiff City and Donny Rovers. He never scored for either club but was accredited with 14 own goals.

Frank Sinclair of Leicester City scored an own goal in the last kick of the game v Arsenal at Highbury on August  1999. Arsenal won 2-1. In the next Premier League game v Chelsea on August 14th, Leicester were leading 1-2; Sinclair slotted an own goal again, equalising the score with 7 seconds left in the game.

WEGNER AND WEDNESDAY

In 2005, on October 2nd, talent scouts would have been "on the ready" as Brazil took on Mexico in an Under 17 World Cup Final in Peru. Brazil's "youngsters" defied their "favourites tags" by losing 0-3 to the Mexicans, a team inspired by Carlos Vela...ring any bells? Here he is....

Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
2005	Guadalajara	0	(0)
2005–2012	Arsenal	29	(3)
2005–2006	→ Celta Vigo (loan)!!	0	(0)
2006–2007	→ Salamanca (loan)	31	(8)
2007–2008	→ Osasuna (loan)	33	(3)
2010–2011	→ West Bromwich Albion (loan)	8	(2)
2011–2012	→ Real Sociedad (loan)	35	(12)
2012–2018	Real Sociedad	184	(54)
2018–2024	Los Angeles FC	152	(78)
Total		472	(160)

Vela attracted interest from a number of European clubs. Where there's World class young footballers, Arsene Wenger isn't usually too far away, so he snapped up Vela, a 16 year old potential star, for a cool £2.5 million. Arsenal won the race for his signature in November 2005, on a five-year deal for a £125,000 fee that rose to £550,000 after he played 50 first-team games. However, since English work permit restrictions for non-EU citizens prevented him from playing in England,  Arsenal quickly loaned him out to Spanish club Celta Vigo in February 2006, but he was returned right away with no games played, as shown above.

The other star of the tournament also caught the eye of Premier League scouts, as Manchester United picked up Anderson (on your right) for the rather more inflated sum of £17m two years later. 

There wasn't much South American skill on show at Selhurst Park in 1991 on this date, as Wimbledon and Sheffield Wednesday played in front of the lowest "top-flight" audience since ther Second World War as just 3,121 turned out to see the Dons beat Wednesday 2-1.